Create fake headlines on magazines like Maxim or Sporting News and then send them to friends. This is the idea of Heinken’s recent viral campaign lauched in the US. Have a look at it on its web site. Nice!

News from Australia… Online travel service provider Zuji has just launched a new campaign, developed by M&C Saatchi to position as “your online travel guru” throughout Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. The news is reported today on B&T Marketing.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced that several IAB member companies will participate in an Acceleration Program designed to hasten the growth of the industry. This will enable the association to immediately initiate programs and projects that will further improve the value of the interactive advertising medium for advertisers and agencies. Participating companies will fund the Acceleration Program by providing pre-paid membership fees worth $5.8 million. Read on the press release on Yahoo! Biz.

Mercedes-Benz has just launched two microsites in 18 countries and 20 languages to promote two cars: Viano and Vito. Syzygy is the agency that has developed the German auto-maker new online presence and features on its Web site a press release commenting the branding campaign on the Internet. Sorry the press release is in German, I’ll do my best to translate the key points…
The project has been divided in two phases. In the introduction the visitors of the Vito microsite receive a first impression from the new car and an overview of the variety of the new transporter series. Starting from September 6th, the second phase will begin with further information and interactive features.
The sites offer background informations, interactive offers, animations and interviews. Furthermore users can download brochures, agree upon a test run or get in touch with a local dealer. In particular I like the idea of presenting inteviews with the people that have actually projected the car, I feel like it adds a human touch to the online experience.
The Viano microsite features an emotional approach as well, in order to target different prospect groups, appealing both to individualists and families.

It seems like automakers believe in the Internet potentials to increase brand awareness and indirectly to generate more sales.
In these days I’ve found two articles talking about Ford and General Motors efforts to take advantage of the Web to regain market share.
On iMediaConnection Sara Wilson talks about “All new 2003 Ford Expedition” a new campaign created to draw attention and make people interact with the brand. The campaign has been run with different ads and features on the three world’s main portals: Yahoo! Msn.com and Aol.com because, as Kristen Bergmann, Digital Media Director and Senior Partner at J. Walter Thompson explains:

“We felt that we would reach most of the Internet population if we were to choose these three [portals], and they all happened to be existing partners of ours that we knew could deliver”.

On the other side we have General Motors who has just launched an online banner campaign to drive qualified traffic to the newly relaunched GMBuyPower.com. As DMNews reports, Flash-enabled banners have been developed by Zentropy Partners, with skyscrapers, horizontals and standard formats in different sizes and 120 creative executions. And Steve Woolford, executive vice president and worldwide managing director at Zentropy explains:

“The beauty of this advertising is that it links up that part of the BuyPower site that most people are interested in. If someone’s not considering a GM vehicle, it’s silly to give them the tool to shop. If they’re not aware, we must make them aware. If someone’s not considering, we must make them.”
File under:auto makers, branding online, ford, general motors, online advertising

Sanalarana is the new Pfizer Web site created to refine and extend its offline brand strategy online through the development of a space devoted to the health care needs of the Hispanic community. The press release on Yahoo! explains that the Spanish language site provides educational content regarding health topics and diseases that informs and empowers members of the Hispanic community to take charge of their health.

I always read with great interest articles talking about interactivity and user engagement but, this time, I’ve been rather disappointed by Jeremy Lockhorn article on ClickZ The Rules of Engagement. No new ideas, no new tips, no new opinion, just a bunch of obvious stuffs.
Sorry for this “extreme” judgement, but I’m used to expect high quality content from ClickZ and this way it’s easier to get disappointed, even though I understand it’s August, it’s hot, and the climate influences our performances

A curious article today on the Independent: according to the movie industry recent flops of The Hulk, Charlie’s Angels and Gigli are due to… “sms”.
“The problem, they say, is teenagers who instant message their friends with their verdict on new films – sometimes while they are still in the cinema watching – and so scuppering carefully crafted marketing campaigns designed to lure audiences out to a big movie on its opening weekend.”
Well, my dear movie industry managers, if you really believe their flops are due to sms instead that to lack of quality and originality, then I have only a suggestion… Sequestrate the cell phones to people before entering the theatre!